There are many benefits to using theater in the classroom. It can increase students' reading skills, deepen their understanding of concepts, encourage critical thinking, improve communication, boost self-confidence, broaden their cultural exposure, and so much more. Though it has obvious ties with the English curriculum, drama should not be limited to the ELA classroom. All core content areas can benefit from incorporating principles and activities from the world of theater.

Reader's theater is a simple way to incorporate drama in the classroom in an easy, fun, and non-threatening way. It can be used across many grade levels and subject areas. This website provides many free reader's theater scripts, as well as tips for effective classroom implementation and links to other related resources.

Laura Davis outlines a theater-based project she used in her 10th grade U.S. history classes. Using the topic of the American Revolution, she had groups of students write 10-minute plays and perform them for their parents.

The author of this article, Carl Engvall, is a high school math and science teacher as well as a drama director. Here, he compares and contrasts students' engagement in the classroom with their engagement in drama (and other extra curriculars such as sports). He shows how he has taken lessons from what's expected of students in drama club and applied them to his math and science classes.

While many teachers may understand the value of using drama in the classroom, some of them hesitate to actually put it into practice. This article addresses the common reasons why and gives teachers practical advice for implementing simple dramatic techniques that can have a big impact on student literacy.

This article provides a quick overview of the benefits of using drama in the classroom and a wide array of suggestions on how to do that. It provides a brief discussion of dramatic activities such as reader's theater, puppetry, viewing live and recorded theater, making and using props, dramatic poetry reading, and more.